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Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Paleo Comfort Food - Kielbasa and Potatoes

I recently joined a food co-op and have been getting a half share of local, organic, seasonal produce every Saturday morning. This amounts to approximately 15 pounds of all organic produce for $30. That seems like a pretty good deal to me especially considering how much 15 pounds of organic produce costs at Whole Foods (hint: a lot). It's also a lot of fun and I am learning about new foods and also about proper storage techniques. Also, because I am getting new and different foods, I'm coming up with my own recipes to use what I've gotten. I want to share with you my successes (and failures) and hopefully you'll try out some of these great foods or join a CSA/co-op and get fun things to try too! I made this hearty kielbasa and potatoes meal last night for instance.

Paleo Kielbasa and Potatoes. Yummm!

I
tried to take a video of my latest share but it's awful quality because
like a dummy I used the wrong setting on my phone. Then I didn't check
it til after I put everything away. Boo! But, here's a picture of the weekly email I get in advance of my weekly pickup day, letting me know what will be in my share:

Anything that says "half" is stuff I received.

My first week, all of my leafy greens wilted before I had a chance to use them because I stored them the completely wrong way. Oopsie! I am so used to leafy things being packaged at the grocery store I didn't really think about getting them unpackaged straight from a farmer! Things are going much more smoothly now, all I needed was to store them in plastic bags with some dry paper towel. Easy enough, right? So the above picture shows what I received in my share on Saturday, February 15. I also had a couple yellow onions and a random lime which is fine by me. My co-op is also a small grocer, so I picked up some additional things to try out:

Last night I decided to put some of these foods to good use and made up a recipe based on the idea of Kielbasa and Potatoes, but which is Paleo-friendly (if you're low carbing it, this won't be for you unfortunately).

14 oz. Kielbasa (a little less or more is fine; I used the big link pictured above)

3 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and diced into 1/2-inch pieces

2 bunches leafy greens; I used my baby bok choy

1 small onion

2-3 cloves garlic

3 tbsp. water

3-4 tbsp. balsamic vinegar

1 tbsp. dried thyme

2 tbsp. kosher salt

1-2 tbsp. dijon mustard

black pepper to taste

Chop up the onion and set aside (when you first cut into your onion, if it's super pungent try running the cut sides under cold water, that usually helps make my eyes sting and water less). Mince two cloves of garlic (if the cloves are small you should probably use 3). Slice the kielbasa into 1/4-inch "coins."

Peel and dice the sweet potatoes, then place in a microwave-safe casserole dish (I just used a pie plate) with the water. Cover with plastic wrap and microwave for 4 minutes, or until fork-tender. If you prefer not to use a microwave, boil in water until tender (start checking around 10 minutes; it really shouldn't take more than 20 minutes). When the potatoes are ready drain and set aside.

While your potatoes are cooking, heat oil over medium heat in a sauté pan (this is what a sauté pan looks like). Add the onions and allow to cook for 5 minutes. Add in the garlic and the vinegar, and sauté for 3-5 minutes, or until the vinegar has cooked off (there shouldn't be a pool of it in your pan in other words). Add in the kielbasa, potatoes, thyme, salt, dijon mustard, and black pepper. Allow to cook for 5 more minutes, until the kielbasa starts to brown. Add your leafy greens in and cook until wilted and tender. I used baby bok choy that I tore into pieces. I think a couple good-sized handfuls of spinach would work really well instead though. At this point you're ready to eat up a delicious meal! You may want to season with additional salt and pepper (P and I loooove salt but when I make recipes I go with less and then we can season to our tastes when a serving is on our plates).

*For information on why I use a number range for certain ingredients, e.g. 1-2 tbsp. seasoning, and information on cooking fats, please see the About This Blog page.